Salome Eiland
This article refers to the Benacian presence on Blackstone island from 1690 until 1705, for the current state see: Blackstone
Salome Eiland, known historically to the Batavians as Zeehuysen, the Shirerithians as Blackstone and during the period of Jing occupation as Wuqi, is a comparatively small island located off the western coast of Benacia across from the Batavian port of Hoogacker. Formerly a citadel and headquarters for the House of Verion and the Iron Company before passing under Jing occupation in around 1648 AN. The special relationship between Jingdao and Barbary would see the Jingdaoese control of the island relinquished, only for that arrangement to fall through and the island to revert to a lawless condition. A Batavian attempt to establish a presence on the island faltered when the absence of a clear government mandate deterred potential supporters, leaving the island to remain as Terra Nullis.
The island's indigenous population is no more, having succumbed to Jing administration and the release of the Tyrannocricetus aliger onto the island. In large part it is owing to the Jingdaoese decision to release genetically modified mega-fauna onto the island that Benacia Command felt obligated to dispatch a small task force to the island in 1690 AN to ensure that no lasting population of the feral creatures became established, and to eradicate them if they had.
The island has been renamed in honour of Salome, Kaiseress of Shireroth and present Staatholder of Batavia. The primary settlement of the island, where human habitation is for the present moment confined, is located on the Isle of the Dead and is known as Zwarthaven.
Administration
The Salome Eiland is administered under conditions of martial law following the reading of the Covenant and the raising of the flag, both ceremonies having taken place concurrently on 24.X.1690 AN.
As an unincorporated territory of the Unified Governorates of Benacia the only law provided for the island is the Covenant itself, supplemented by the Directives of Benacia Command and any additional directives that may be issued by the Commandant of the Island.
The first Commandant was the Ahmst Bræþstranin-bi-Mari Reinhard Schneidemesser, a tribune in the Maritime Forces of the Black Legions, who assumed the office after leading the initial landing party ashore.
His successor was the Legate Balthazar Jauregui, seconded from the Political Directorate to represent the interests of the Command Executive of Benacia Command in Batavia and appointed to that role in the first month of 1691 AN.
Balthazar was replaced on 7.IV.1702 AN by Eckehard Maier, a Salbnan of the Black Legions, who had been dispatched by the Benacian Union to take possession of the island and responsibility for relations with Batavia.
Security
The security and defence of Salome Eiland is, as of 1690 AN, the responsibility of the Western Banner Group's Sagittarius Station. The garrison on the island accordingly consists of the Commandant, an eight-man headquarters section on the Commandant's personal establishment with the Maritime Forces, a forty-man administrative troop from the Inspectorate of Training and Discipline, a one hundred-and-twenty man support services squadron from the Inspectorate of the Commissariat, and one thousand-two-hundred men from the Varþataræn (Homeland Defence), the second-line light-infantry of the Black Legions.
Assigned to Zwarthaven, the present title for the anchorage and eventual port protected by the Isle of the Dead, is the the Elwynn-class corvette BNS Zahnstange (F005). Stationed offshore is the the Brigand-class logistic support vessel BNS Hill Lach (L006) and the Viviantia-class logistic support vessel BNS Ifni (L012). From the latter ship operates twenty-four NH-76 Dromosker helicopters detached from the 1004 Naval Air Regiment. These helicopters perform a variety of roles whilst on station, including maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare training, reconnaissance and scouting missions and the dropping of barrel bombs on suspected Tee-al nests.
The dedicated supply ship for the island is the BNSAux Merchant Sage (A403), a converted SATCo merchantman that serves as an auxiliary vessel for the Maritime Forces of the Black Legions. The Merchant Sage, as of late 1690, conducted monthly supply runs to Salome Eiland from New Blackstone.
Future plans for the settlement
For the present moment the objectives of the force that has been put ashore is to fortify the Isle of the Dead and to make it once more fit for human habitation. Once the settlement of Zwarthaven is considered to be viable then the next phase will involve the transfer of personnel from the Biological Remediation Service to the island to complete the cleansing of any hostile fauna inimical to human life. Thereafter future options with regards to the settlement will be considered.
The economic prospects of the settlement would be perhaps bleak were it not for the prospect of salvage amongst the various ruins that dot the island, the harvesting of the carcasses of any Tee-als that might be uncovered, or failing that the development of crab fisheries and shellfish beds offshore.
Chronicle of the settlement
On the night of 18.X.1690 the Elwynn-class corvette BNS Zahnstange (F005), the Brigand-class logistic support vessel BNS Hill Lach (L006) and the Viviantia-class logistic support vessel BNS Ifni (L012) departed the Marinestation Sagittarius on the island of Naudia'Diva. They proceeded on a due westerly course that took them out into the vast expanse of the Great Western Sea.
After two days sailing on this course the small task force conducted a rendezvous at sea with the BNSAux Merchant Sage (A403), a SATCo Merchantman that served as an auxiliary vessel in the Maritime Forces of the Black Legions. Once united the combined flotilla turned northwards and followed the outer limit of Batavian territorial waters until, on 24.X.1690, it reached a point level with the coastal town of Hoogacker where the two logistic support vessels remained on the edge of international waters while the corvette and the merchantman turned to the east as though making a run upon the port.
The Zahnstange and the Merchant Sage however diverted from their course after clipping the edge of Batavian territorial waters and instead came within sight of the once notorious Blackstone Island, former vaunted headquarters of the Iron Company and now an abandoned ruin littered with Jing fortifications and the infamous markers of an infestation by Tyrannocricetus aliger.
As the corvette and the merchantman entered the small bay on the north-west coast of Blackstone that enjoyed the relative shelter afforded by Cemetery Island, the first Dromosker helicopters of the 1004 Naval Air Regiment, carried aboard the BNS Ifni, began to pass overheard. Twelve helicopters in all crossed from the sea over onto the land. Two of the helicopters climbed in altitude and adopted a hovering over-watch from their vantage point. Five of the other helicopters swept towards the north of the island and five towards the south. These continued to fan out in a line abreast that reached from from Cemetery Island to the site of the former 2nd Imperial Marine Corps Barracks. With the firing of a flare from the deck of the BNS Zahnstange, the helicopters began their south-westwards sweep of the island.
The purpose of this sweep became apparent whenever a helicopter came to a hovering halt, and from the side of the Dromosker would be observed falling a crude cylindrical object, tumbling towards the ground. These devices, formed of a barrel that has been filled with High Explosives, along with shards of scrap metal and oil, were being on the sites of suspected Tee-al nests. The murder hamsters having been exported to the island by the reckless Jing after the no-less reckless Kalgachi had presented Daocheng with a breeding pair of the monsters as an ill-considered gift. For the Black Legions there was no point putting men ashore without having first made an effort to deal with the poisonous legacy left on the island by its previous occupants. Four of these barrel bombs had been dropped by the time that the helicopters had passed over the site of the former Wuqi Staff Headquarters, where the final barrel bomb was dropped – not on account of any improbably oversized murder-hamster, but merely as a gesture of affection for an edifice that stood as a reminder of the USSO's former presence on Benacian soil.
As the last of the helicopters began to return to the landing decks of the logistic support vessel, their places being taken by the next twelve helicopter sortie, a series of row boats and motor launches were departing from the sides of the merchantman, from which thick rope netting had been thrown and men in black uniforms could be seen clambering down towards small boats bobbing in the water. The small boats already underway, each crammed with black-clad men wearing coal-scuttle helmets and clutching bullpup rifles, were heading towards Cemetery Island, also known as the Isle of the Dead, once the site of a fortress that had served as home to Melchior Drogion – the outlines of which could still be discerned amidst later Jing additions during the Chidao Emperor's drive to construct coastal fortifications as a rebuttal of a Batavian expression of interest.
From the first boat to run ashore on a filthy banked mess of mud and shingle leapt one Ahmst Bræþstranin-bi-Mari Reinhard Schneidemesser, followed with varying degrees of enthusiasm by twelve other men, identifiable by their lapel badges, armbands, and lack of body-armour, as levies drawn from the Varþataræn reserves of the Black Legions.
Standing on the shore and surveying the dismal scene, Schneidemesser unfolded a piece of paper held in his and began to read, whilst behind him some of the men in his party began to fumble the unloading of a short white metal pole from the launch that had brought them to the shore.
“In the name of Salome, Kaiseress of Shireroth, Rani of Tas Neemia, Duchess of Brookshire, Duchess of Chestnut, Princess of Hurmu, Princess among the Lakes, Duchess of New Aquitane, Marchioness of Zy-Rodun, Khanum of Caer Lum'ruush, Countess of Upper Macon, Countess of Andiopolis, Countess of Dracoheim, Countess of Istvan, Baroness of Port Mills, Lady of Zauberförde/Senkyōwan, Lady in Jorvik, Progeny of the Once-Living God, Scion of the King of Kings, Thane of the Shirelands, Keeper of the Apollo Legacy, Grand Master of the Orders of the Dragon, Griffin, Phoenix, and Chimera, Sovereign of the Golden Mango Throne, Lord Mayor of the City of Vladagrad, Emira of Sathrati, Progeny of the Once-Living God, Lady of the Holy Lakes, Scion of the King of Kings, Queen of Ransenar, Sardar of Talenore, Staatsholder of Batavia, Queen and Exarch of Chryse, Sovereign of All Laq,and also in the name of Vüqar, Szodan of Benacia,
The Command Executive of Benacia Command, acting on Behalf of the Unified Governorates of Benacia, and in the name of all civilised nations, and for the advancement of the Common Weal of all humanity, does hereby request and require that all persons here present take heed of the present notice pertaining to the assumption of sovereignty by the forces of the Black Legions at the behest of the Command Executive of Benacia Command, acting on Behalf of the Unified Governorates of Benacia.
Let it be known to all persons that adherence to the Covenant shall be, from this date, an obligation laid upon all persons resident upon this this island. For the avoidance of doubt the Covenant shall now be read in full.
Let all souls, citizens and foreigners alike, who dwell within the lands, hasten to make prompt submission before the Imperial Standards, before the portraits of the Kaiser, and at the altars of the Highest Divinity.All who do so, for the salvation of their souls, shall be bound to the Community of the Realm, itself a part of the great Chain of Being which links the material world below to the Celestial Temple above.
The votive offerings of first fruits and labour must be offered to the goddess Agni who forged the Sword of Fire for the scourging of all enemies of Humanity.
The Benac, as ancestor of all true Benacians, is the Cult Hero to whom the first kill and first meal of each new year must be dedicated in remembrance of he who first claimed this continent for Humanity […]
(and it continued like this for several pages)
[…] The kohanim shall enjoy the assistance of authority to remove from their numbers any who practice heresy or who have refused the Covenant, whether in public or in their hearts, or whom willingly consort with daemons and other such unclean familiars. Those such as these shall not be suffered to live amongst the Community of the Realm unless they repent and it is the duty of all persons to assist the priesthood in their eradication.
Let no one be of any doubt, as of this date, as to whom and for why their loyalty is owed!”
By the time he had finished reading, the landing party had finished erecting the pole from which the small flags of the Unified Governorates of Benacia, the Raspur Pact, and finally of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth now uncertainly fluttered.
International reaction
The Benacian action met in Batavia with open hostility from the Batavian population towards the Unified Governates and the De Withe Cabinet. The island was seen as part of the last part of the original Batavian heartland prior to the fall of the Second Kingdom. Earlier, but failed, attempts of the government to successfully claim the isle had been met with annoyance, but its loss to its eastern neighbour was seen as a slap in the face.
On the day of the landing, protests broke out near the border crossing at Klyrnhigh. Concerned with a potential increase of violence against Benacians, the prime minister sent in reserve troops to the former province of Kasterburg to temporarily close the border. At the same time, a poll from major newspapers indicated a further loss of popularity of the Radicalen (due to their weak response) and Staatshouder Salome.
In response to the Batavian border protests the 34th and 35th Legions were placed on a short-notice deployment alert whilst a regiment of Varþataræn reservists was called up from amongst the communities of Lower Lywall to reinforce the State Guard at the Klymhigh border crossing.
